Tag Archives: idiopathic food allergy symptoms

As you know, I’ve had more than my fair share of health issues for the last several months. I vomited daily for almost a year. I had a severely infected gallbladder that had to be removed. I had a calcified gallstone dropped inside me during surgery which caused some horrific aftermath. I had every test known to man to find the root cause of my digestive issues. And I had some of the rudest, most unhelpful doctors I’ve ever had the displeasure of treating with in my life.

I’m now happy to report that I finally have some answers. I was diagnosed with idiopathic gastroparesis. Of course idiopathic means there’s no known cause. For those of you who don’t know what gastroparesis is, it mostly occurs in people with diabetes, which I do not have. (Hence, why it’s idiopathic in me.) Basically, it’s when the vagus nerve is damaged and your digestive system is sort of “paralyzed.” (It’s actually more complicated than that, but essentially, that’s the short version of what’s going on.) (Also, although it’s technically idiopathic – or of unknown origin — my personal observance tells me it’s stress induced. My whole life, I’ve tended to get physically ill when under extreme stress.)

(WARNING: If you have a weak stomach, skip this paragraph.) So essentially for the past year, when I’d eat, I would not get that queasy, nauseous feeling like when you have a stomach bug. Rather, the food would sit like a hard lump in my stomach for hours, causing a lot of pain unless I made myself throw it up. So, since vomiting was the only thing that felt better, I had to make myself puke after most meals. And it would come back in “layers.” i.e., if I ate, for example, a grilled cheese sandwich, French fries with ketchup, and chocolate pudding, I’d first throw up the pudding, then the ketchup, then the bread, then the cheese, then the potatoes. And no matter how long after the meal, the food was always recognizable as whatever I’d eaten, even if it was the next day.

(The weak stomached can continue reading now.) The doctor who diagnosed me really gave me no advice other than to eat several small meals rather than three big meals, puree my food or eat baby food or have liquid shake meals when possible, and avoid fat and fiber. However, because I have so many “idiopathic food allergy symptoms” (meaning I have food allergy symptoms even though the blood tests say I’m not technically allergic) likely because food was sitting undigested in my gut for so long, I can’t even have much of a variety in the first place.

So, I was left to research my condition on my own. Now normally, I’m a believer in Western medicine. But there was no known Western help for me that I could find in my research. However, what I did find was in the Eastern medicine world. Basically, I deduced that I have a condition only known in the Eastern medicine world known as hypochlorhydria, which means that my body doesn’t produce (enough if any) stomach acid. (Quite coincidentally, the symptoms for too little stomach acid are almost identical to those of too much stomach acid.) Having little to no stomach acid means that my food can’t digest, and therefore, it literally sits in my gut until it rots or until I vomit. (I still have no idea if the hypochlorhydria caused the gastroparesis or the other way around, but there’s definitely a connection, at least in me.)

So the Eastern “cure” for this condition is this magic pill called Betaine Hydrochloride with Pepsin, which is basically artificial stomach acid coupled with a digestive enzyme (the Pepsin). A person should start off taking one with each meal. If, after the meal, your gut burns like hell, then you don’t have that condition, and you should not take any more pills. But in my case, I was to then work up to increasing the pills by one per meal each week until I’m digesting well. I’m now up to eight pills per meal. But even though that’s a lot of pills (and I HATE swallowing pills!), I’m so happy to not be hugging the toilet every night. I still have to puke roughly two or three times a month, but being as I was at that much per day, I’m not complaining in the least. (And the few times a month this has happened lately, it’s been when I’ve been at the end of my rope with stress.) Because I’m at least for the most part able to eat and digest food again, my B12 and iron deficiency anemia has gone away, my color is back, my hair isn’t falling out like it was, my vision has improved, and I’m not nearly as tired as I was. I still don’t feel one hundred percent yet, and there are still a ton of foods I still have to avoid or else I swell, but I feel incredible compared to how I felt earlier this year when I was at death’s door.

I also want to thank you all for all your sweet emails to me checking on me and for your prayers, kind thoughts, and warm wishes. Your concern means so much to me. I love and miss you guys, my blogging family, and I hope to be able to return to blogging regularly soon!

So, that’s what’s been going on with me… Now tell me, what’s new with YOU?